Rush to reopen by New Year's rejected

The boardwalk restaurants that remain closed — Stella Marina, Cubacan and Langosta Lounge — can reopen in January when all storm-related repairs will be complete, according to Gary Mottola, president of investments for boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette.

There was thought of rushing to finish the work before the end of the year, said Mottola [above at right at last week’s tree lighting ceremony in Convention Hall]. But after talking to the owner of Stella Marina and Cubacan restaurants, Mottola said the decision was to complete the work for certain in January.

“If that was going to happen [an opening by New Year’s], the restaurants would want to take reservations,” said Mottola.

However, there was no guarantee a rush to finish would get done by the end of December, and that complicated the taking of reservations for major events like New Year’s Eve.

“They didn’t want to be in a position of not being open in time after taking reservations,” said Mottola. “If we rushed everything we probably could get open for this year, but the reservations wouldn’t be secure.”

Meanwhile, boardwalk businesses that suffered less storm damage — McLoone’s Asbury Grille and Watermark Lounge — reopened this week. And Langosta Lounge owner Marilyn Schlossbach has moved her operationsinto her Dauphin Grille restaurant in the Berkeley Hotel on Ocean Avenue, where she’s serving dinner seven nights a week, and breakfast and lunch on the weekends, until her boardwalk location reopens.

McLoone’s Asbury Grille reopened on Wednesday and its upstairs Supper Club reopened Saturday night with owner Tim McLoone — a singer and pianist — performing with his band “The Shirleys”. Watermark Lounge on the second floor of the First Avenue Pavilion reopened on Friday, and resumes an off-season schedule of Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m., and Sundays for private parties.